Ties that Bind in Central City
by chissprincess
Summary: They've had plenty of adventures, but now it's time for some relationships to grow among the residents of Central City. EnvyOC, RoyAi, some EdWinry. Sequel to Darkness and Light in Centrial City and The Curious Affair in Central City.
1. Chapter 1

Aaaaaaaaand I'm back! Well, sort of. My internet connection is kind of limited at the moment, so I probably won't be posting as frequently as I have before. Sorry about that. Now, let's see...some details about this story...

**Title: Ties that Bind in Central City  
Rating: T, **just to be safe.

**Summary**: They've had plenty of adventures, but now it's time for some relationships to grow among the residents of Central City. Envy/OC, RoyAi, some Ed/Winry. Sequel to "Darkness and Light in Central City" (which is a sequel to "The Curious Affair in Central City").

**Disclaimer:** I suppose we could say that I own Isabelle, but I don't own any of the rest of FMA or the characters here. So don't sue me. Please??

**Author's Note:** I love reviews. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and they let me know that someone actually likes what I write. So, if you want to see more chapters, please leave me a review. It doens't have to be long, and you don't have to be signed in!

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**Chapter 1**

"Almost there! Now, I need you to push, okay? Ready, now…push!"

Isabelle did as the doctor ordered, bearing down and pushing as well as she could despite her exhaustion. She could feel Envy's warm hand squeezing hers in support and encouragement. "You're doing great, honey!" he said, leaning forward and smiling down at her.

She didn't return his smile. "Envy…" she said, between gasping for breath and dealing with contractions, "this is the _last time_. You understand? You want more kids, we either adopt or find a way to make you pregnant."

"Alright, love," Envy soothed.

Isabelle squeezed her eyes shut and groaned in pain as she had another contraction. "Envy, hold me," she whimpered.

"I'm right here," he said softly, wrapping his free arm around her hunched shoulders and kissing her cheek. "I'm right here."

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Ed and Al sat together on the bench in the waiting room, staring transfixed at the doors separating them from their half-brother and his wife in one of the hospital's delivery rooms. Around them, Hughes, Roy, Riza, and the others were pacing around quietly. Hughes came and knelt down beside the bench, gently patting End's shoulder. "She'll be fine, you know. This is the third time she's done this."

"I know," Ed replied, though he didn't sound all that confident. "But it's the first time she's had triplets."

"When did they confirm that?" Roy asked.

"A few months ago," Al answered. "Didn't Envy or Isabelle tell you?"

Roy shook his head. "They told me it was another multiple pregnancy, but they never did tell me how many. How are the other kids taking it?"

"Fine, I suppose," Ed said. "Elizabeth and Ronan seem excited, but Guinevere's only two. I don't know if she even knows what's really going on." He looked over at Winry, Gracia, and Gracia's ten-year-old daughter Elicia, who had taken the job of entertaining the kids while they waited for any news. Guinevere had fallen asleep in Elicia's lap, but the other two were still wide awake and playing quietly with the women they knew as Aunt Winry and Aunt Gracia.

And then, finally, news. As he had the other two times his wife had given birth, Envy came out, looking tired but happy. Unlike the other two times, he came out empty-handed.

"Wha…where are they?" Al demanded.

"I've only got two hands, Al," Envy replied dryly. "And seeing as Isabelle had triplets…you're just going to have to be patient for a little longer before you get to see them."

"Did you name them yet?" Winry asked, looking up from where Elizabeth was busily pretending to serve tea.

Envy nodded and grinned. "The boys are Tristan and Niall, and the girl is Rose. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have an exhausted wife to take care of and three new children to fuss over."

Once he had gone, the others turned to each other and smiled. "They're sure going to have their hands full now," Riza mused.

"It's not going to be too bad," Al said. "I'm going to move in with them for a bit and help them with the babies. They don't want to hire a nanny just yet, and I want to hang out with the kids a bit more anyway."

"Oh, I found a nice place closer to their house, too," Ed added. "I'll be moving there sometime next week."

"And you know I'll be visiting a lot," Winry said.

Hughes chuckled. "Yeah, they're going to be busy, but they'll have plenty of help from all of us. We know how to take care of our friends…we treat them like family."

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Falman sighed happily as he settled into his desk. "It's amazing, isn't it? When new babies are born?"

Havoc chuckled and nodded. "It is. And I'm really happy for Isabelle and Envy, they're great parents."

"It would be nice to have kids someday…" Sheska said dreamily as she set a pile of papers down on Fuery's desk. Breda, Falman, and Havoc nodded in agreement, but Fuery just shrugged. "What, Fuery, you don't want kids?" Sheska asked curiously.

Fuery shook his head. "I like kids, but I like being able to give them back to their parents, too. I prefer pets."

"So you're never going to have kids?" Falman asked. Fuery shook his head, and Falman asked, "What if you change your mind?"

"Well, what if I had kids and decided I didn't like being a dad? Better for me to potentially regret not having kids that regret having them."

"That's actually a really good point," Havoc said. "As long as you're happy, that's all that matters."

Fuery smiled. "Thanks, Havoc," he replied, turning to the pile of papers waiting for his attention. For the next several minutes, the office was quiet, except for the sound of shuffling papers and things being written on.

"Oh, this is sad," Havoc said.

"What's wrong?" Breda asked.

Havoc held up his newspaper and tapped a page inside. "Another person disappeared, this time out West," he said. "An older guy. It's just so sad."

"There seem to be a lot of disappearances lately," Falman said.

"I don't know," Breda said thoughtfully. "Is it really an increase in disappearances or just more news coverage? I mean, it doesn't make the disappearances less sad, but I do think it's important to put these things in perspective."

"Yeah, I don't know," Havoc replied, frowning at his newspaper. "I can't tell."

"Well, I hope Breda's right," Fuery replied. "I'd hate to think there's something going on in Amestris, after we've had peace for so long."


	2. Chapter 2

Yay, a reviewer! And a familiar face as well...always good to see my old reading friends. So, here we have some Lust angst and some fluff involving Roy, Riza, and Wrath. Actually, there's a lot of fluff in general in this story. But anyway, remember that new reviews new chapters, so if you want to read more please review!

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**Chapter 2**

Ed stepped into the somewhat dark room and paused while the metal doors behind him clanged shut. Then, Ed walked forward until he was right in front of the bars separating him from the woman resting against the wall on the other side. When he had first entered, her eyes had been closed and her face had been tilted up towards the small window, through which Ed could see a bit of the pink early-evening summer sky. Now, when he stopped in front of the metal bars, she opened her violet eyes and turned to look at him.

"Hello Edward," she purred.

"Hello Lust," he replied. "How've you been?"

Lust shrugged and sighed. "I'm tired, Edward."

"Not sleeping well?"

"Oh, it has nothing to do with sleeping. We Homunculi don't need sleep or food the same way humans do. No, this is a different sort of tired." She fixed her eyes on his. "They're never going to let me out of here, are they?"

Ed shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. The Generals won't allow it."

Lust nodded. "I've made a decision, then."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Like I said, I'm tired. It's time for me to move on from here."

The young alchemist frowned. "You can't die, Lust. It's not possible for a Homunculus to die."

"I know that. But it's possible for someone like you to seal me. Or…you could make me human."

Ed gawked at her. "What? No I can't!"

"Why not? Wasn't it your father who made Envy human again?"

"Yes," Ed replied. "But I don't think it can be done again."

Lust smiled wryly. "Well, boy, I suggest you ask you sister-in-law about that. She might know. But those are the only choices -- make me human or seal me away forever. I'm tired of this life."

With that, she settled back against the wall and closed her eyes again. Ed watched her for a moment, then said, "Alright. I'll talk to her. Goodnight, Lust." He turned and knocked on the metal doors, and moments later the guards stationed outside opened the heavy doors and let him out. Ed marched off down the halls of the prison, out the front door, and through the streets of Amestris until he came to his own new house. Normally he would go to Envy and Isabelle's house for dinner, but tonight he felt like being alone. He had a lot to think about, especially if he was going to approach Isabelle about making Lust human.

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Riza leaned against the door jamb and allowed herself a small smile at the sight before her. She was looking into a room, small and neatly kept, with a bed in one corner, a small table and three chairs in the other, and a loveseat pushed up against the wall under the room's one large window. Across from the window, one door (the one where Riza stood) led to the common hallway in the dormitory, and the other led to the small private bathroom and dressing area of the tiny apartment.

And there, at the table, sat Riza's husband Roy, engrossed in a game of chess with the sixteen-year-old Homunculus Wrath.

Wrath had mellowed quite a bit in the past four years. Upon his return from Dublith, he had gone into a special rehabilitation center for juvenile criminals. After a year and a half, he had completed the center's most intensive program, but he had nowhere to go. Though he had never told anyone the specifics of what he had been looking for in Dublith, he had said that what he found meant that he was truly alone in the world. The people at the rehabilitation center had recommended this place, a home for orphaned teenagers, since it would allow Wrath some measure of independence as he grew while still providing the care and oversight he would also need. The young Homunculus had been quite happy here, especially since Roy, Riza, Ed, Al, Gracia, Hughes, Isabelle, and even Envy made regular visits. Even Fuery, Falman, Havoc, and Breda stopped by every so often. Riza could always tell that Wrath was happy to see her and Roy, though she knew Wrath would never admit how much he liked their visits. And he would never, ever admit that he didn't mind when Roy beat him at chess. Then again, that could have been because Wrath himself was winning more and more of their matches.

"Checkmate!" Wrath said cheerfully, grinning at Roy and plopping his piece down right next to Roy's king. Roy just stared at the board, then shook his head.

"You've gotten really good at this, you know?" Roy said.

Wrath's smile broadened. "I've had good teachers," he said. "Have you ever played against Fuery? He's brilliant at this."

"Hmm, no, I haven't," Roy replied. "I'll have to remember that. What about Envy, does he play with you?"

"Nah, Envy hates chess. He prefers to draw," Wrath said, pointing at a pile of papers on his desk. "He's been teaching me, though. Have you ever seen his drawings?"

Roy thought back to the night he and the others had first realized that the man they had known as William until that point was truly Envy, and the unusual pictures Isabelle had brought to the office that fateful night. "Yes, I have," he said quietly. "He is a very talented man." Roy shook his head a bit and glanced at his watch, then sighed. "Looks like it's time for us to go, Wrath. I don't know if I'll be able to come tomorrow -- I have a major meeting with the Generals and it might take all day. But I'll see you soon."

"Okay!" Wrath said, standing and following Roy to the door. He shook Roy's hand and gave Riza a hug, then watched them go until they had rounded the corner and vanished from sight.

Since Roy and Riza lived in the Fuhrer's mansion on the other side of the city, they usually drove to Wrath's place. Today was no different, and they settled into their car for the ride home. They were silent for most of the way, Roy driving and Riza watching the buildings and scenery passing by outside the car window. Suddenly, she turned to Roy and smiled.

"You know," she began, "I was watching you and Wrath playing chess tonight."

"Oh?" Roy asked.

"Yes. And I couldn't help but thinking how nice and cozy it seemed…and how you would make such a good father." Roy didn't say anything. He just stared straight ahead, eyes fixed on the road. That made Riza a bit nervous, but she pressed on anyway. "I know we agreed that we weren't going to have children right away, but we've been married for just over four years now, and I would like to have some children…I think it's something we should talk about."

Roy was quiet for a while, so long that Riza was starting to wonder if there was something wrong. "I thought, all those years ago, when Isabelle had the twins, that you swore you would never go through pregnancy and birth," Roy said softly.

Riza nodded. "I did. But you know…I think I could handle it once, maybe twice. Though I have to say, I'd really like to adopt a few children. I mean, think about it…there are so many babies born each year who are unwanted or who wind up orphaned and have no one to take them in. And worse, there are so many children who are passed over each year, and they just get older and older and live out their childhood and adolescents in orphanages or places like Wrath is living now, until they get too old to stay and are forced out to make their own way in the world…and I know we can't adopt every child like that, but even if it was just one or two…"

"Or three," Roy said eagerly. "I've always though three or four children would be a good size for a family."

Riza blinked at him. "Are you serious?"

Now it was Roy's turn to blink, but he fortunately had the sense to keep his eyes on the road. "Would you prefer more? Or would you rather stop at two?"

"No…three or four sounds perfect to me to," Riza replied, breaking into a bright smile.

Roy glanced at her and grinned, taking one hand off the steering wheel long enough to take her hand and give it a quick squeeze. "Well then, Colonel Hawkeye, I hereby order you to begin looking into the process of adopting for both infants and older children, and I expect you to put your usual high level of effort into this task."

"Yes sir!" Riza exclaimed before giggling madly. There was something highly amusing about Roy pretending to order her around like that. They both knew he would never be able to get away with it in most situations anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Ooh, time for a little drama. Why? Because drama is fun. Remember that new reviews encourage new chapters...

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**Chapter 3**

The young military police officer stepped into the tent that had been set up around the area in East City and stared at the sight before him. "You said it was bad," he murmured to his companion, "but you never told me _how_ bad."

"Sorry, sir," she replied softly. "They're still finding bodies, though."

The young man looked around and took a quick count. Right now, there were at least twenty bodied inside this tent. He knew there was a second tent not too far from this one, and that the situation there was probably similar. And apparently his companion had been right about them finding more, for just as he turned to ask her a question, the tent flap opened again to admit two men carrying a blanket covered stretcher. They carefully set said stretcher down on an empty examining table, where two more men helped them move the newest body onto the table so the stretcher could be used again. "What in all the hells of this world happened here?" the young MP asked the woman beside him.

She shook her head sadly. "We have no idea yet, sir. They think perhaps some kind of mass suicide -- there have been some cults in the past that have done that sort of thing."

"Whatever it is," a medical officer spoke up from where he was looking at the newest body, "it happened within the last twenty-four hours and doesn't appear to have left any visible marks on any of the victims' bodies."

The young MP nodded and surveyed the scene before him quietly. It was disturbing, there was no doubting that. But he also had the distinct feeling that this was well over his head and the heads of his team members. Time to hand this off to a higher authority. "First, I want every forensic lab and spare hospital surgery suite in the city opened. We need to figure out what happened to these people." He glanced at his subordinate as she scribbled his orders down, and continued, "Then, send word to the higher-ups in Central. We need someone to come out here and take a look at all of this. It's gone past what we can handle on our own."

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" 'We have found sixty unidentified bodies so far,'" Fuery read, " 'and we are still searching for more. We cannot handle this ourselves. Please send assistance.'" He looked up at the others gathered in Roy's office and sighed sadly. "They sound desperate."

Hughes nodded. "Sixty unidentified bodies…what the hell is going on in the East?"

"There's no question, we need to send someone out there," Riza said.

Roy nodded, eyes closed and chin rested on his folded hands, thinking. Finally, he raised his head and opened his eyes, fixing his deep blue gaze on two of the three other alchemists in the room. "Assuming that all of these deaths are linked and not just some sad coincidence, which seems highly unlikely given the numbers involved, I strongly suspect the involvement of alchemy. Ed, Envy, I'm sending you two to investigate. You'll need to be on the first train out tomorrow." Ed nodded, but Envy crossed his arms over his chest and glared daggers at Roy, who either didn't notice or chose to ignore the former Homunculus's expression of unhappiness. "Make sure you get all the details you can," Roy added. "And make sure you stress to the MPs the importance of keeping communications with us open throughout the investigation." He glanced at the clock in the corner of his desk and sighed. "Time to call it a day," he said. "I'll see you all in the morning." The others filed out quietly, and Roy turned his attention to gathering his things. He didn't even notice anything was amiss until Riza spoke.

"Envy, are you alright?"

Roy looked up to see a fuming Envy standing stiffly in front of the desk, glaring at the man still sitting there and not paying an ounce of attention to Riza. "Sorry Colonel, but the Fuhrer and I need to have a private chat. This will only take a minute." Roy and Riza exchanged a quick glance, and Roy nodded to his wife. Riza shrugged, gathered her coat and briefcase, and left the office, closing the door behind her with barely a click.

"What's with you?" Roy asked, frowning up at Envy.

"You're sending me on a mission?" Envy asked incredulously. "Now?"

"I have to," Roy replied. "You and Ed are the best I have."

"I don't see any signs of alchemy use just from that little report thing Fuery read," Envy ground. "And I sure as hell don't see why you need to send me, of all people, less than two weeks after my wife gave birth to triplets. Can't you send Al in my place just this one?"

Roy sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. "Envy, please. It's only three days, and that's precisely why I need to send you. I'd be sending Isabelle with you if I could, instead of Ed. Ed and Al are great alchemists, there's no doubt about it, but they tend to miss things -- especially Al. This mission calls for you to absorb a huge amount of detail in a short amount of time, and that's why I need to send someone observant. As for evidence of alchemy use…these people all died within minutes of each other and there is no visible evidence of any sort of trauma on their bodies. There aren't too many ways a killer could accomplish that."

"I still don't like it. I'm doing this under protest, you know," Envy said.

"I know," Roy replied. "But you're still doing it. Dismissed."

For a moment, Envy looked like he was going to say something, but then thought better of it. Instead, he gave Roy a sharp and somewhat exaggerated salute before turning and stalking from the office.

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Isabelle sighed and tucked Rose into her crib, then turned out the light in the nursery and left. She arrived in the hallway just in time to see Envy quietly shutting the door to the room currently shared by the four-year-old twins and their two-year-old sister. The two glanced at each other, and Envy waited until Isabelle was beside him to continue the short trip down the hall to their bedroom, in the old wing that Envy had once kept locked. Once there, they closed the door to the bedroom and Isabelle perched on the edge of the bed while Envy continued his efforts at packing three days' worth of clean clothes and necessary toiletries into his slightly larger-than-average overnight bag.

"I still can't believe he's making me go. He could send Al instead if he really wanted to," Envy grumbled.

"I know you're not happy about it," Isabelle said softly. "I'm not either. But it's only three days, Envy, and you know Roy wouldn't send you if he thought someone else could handle the job."

Envy glared at his silver State Alchemist watch before setting it on his bedside table. "But still, you just had the babies…"

"We can't expect the world to make exceptions for us just because we're parents," Isabelle said firmly. "That's why we agreed that you wouldn't take the three months' paternity leave Roy offered you, remember?" Envy continued his packing, obviously getting more annoyed with each passing minute, so Isabelle slid off the bed, walked up behind her husband, and carefully wrapped her arms around him. Envy straightened a bit and covered her hands with one of his own before pulling away from her and turning to hug her too.

"I know," he said resignedly. "I just don't like the idea of leaving you here all by yourself with six kids…"

"I'm not going to be here all by myself," Isabelle reminded him. "Al's room is ready, so he'll be moving in tomorrow. And Winry and Sheska will be coming over every day. I bet Roy and the others will drop by to help out too. There's nothing to worry about. Just promise me that you'll do the best job you can and that you'll come home on schedule."

Envy nodded, kissing her forehead and holding her tightly. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too. Three days will be over before you know it, though."


	4. Chapter 4

Aww, no new reviews? That makes me sad. Now, I know I said I wouldn't post new chapters without reviews on the ones already up, but I know people have been reading this (mwahaha!) and I'm going to be without internet starting tomorrow and going until Feb. 16, so I figure you all need something to tide you over until then. So, enjoy...and don't forget to review! Leave me something nice to read when I finally get my internet back :)

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**Chapter 4**

Envy followed Ed into the forensics lab and glanced around, taking in the sight of five hard-working forensics specialists examining the bodies neatly laid out around the lab. It was a sad sight, but Envy couldn't help but feel glad that these people were highly likely to be identified. He knew that, as sad and angry he would be if Isabelle were to be killed, he would be even more depressed if she just vanished without a trace.

"How many of the victims have you been able to identify?" Ed asked the MP officer guiding them.

"So far, all of the victims who have been examined have been identified, and we're certain that all of the remaining victims will be identified as well."

"Any patterns?" Envy asked.

The MP officer hesitated, then turned to his aide and took a file from her, which he handed to Envy. "So far, all of the people we've identified have turned out to be people who have disappeared from various locations throughout Amestris this year."

Ed leaned over to look at the file Envy was studying. "Is that the only link you have between them?"

"So far, yes," the MP replied.

Envy handed the file to Ed, then turned to the MP. "You have to understand that we're not forensics experts. We're State Alchemists. I don't think this is what we're here for."

The MP nodded. "No, but we thought you should see this anyway. Here, let me show you the main site…"

He lead them outside once again, up the closed street, to a small alley where one of the tents was still set up. All of the bodies had been moved to forensics labs or hospitals, so the tent's main purpose at the moment was to provide a somewhat secured entrance to the site. Four MPs were inside the tent, and though they came to attention when their commander arrived with the two State Alchemists, they didn't interfere with the small group's progress through the tent to the alley. The MP led Ed and Envy down the alley to a door that had been propped open and was currently being guarded by another MP and motioned for them to enter. "This is where all of the victims were found."

The brothers found themselves standing in a cramped and musty basement, with just one other door. Ed and Envy went through the door, and found themselves in a much larger room. A few more doors opened off of it. "How far does this basement go?" Ed asked.

"Pretty far. It doesn't appear to have been used in years, though."

Envy listened as Ed and the MP discussed the size of the basement, but he didn't stay with them or participate. Instead, he continued on through the room, opening each of the doors and glancing inside before continuing on to the next. He opened one door, glanced inside, then pulled the door open wider and stared. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in what could only be transmutation circles, though Envy couldn't quite remember where he might have ever seen circles like these.

"Hey Ed! Come look at this," he called over his shoulder.

Ed turned and joined his older half-brother at the door, staring into the room and gawking at the transmutation circles in shock. "What in the world…?"

"I have no clue," Envy replied. "Some of them look vaguely familiar, but I have no idea where I might have seen them or what they might have been used for."

"We need some paper and pens," Ed said, turning back to the MP. "If you have any evidence of what this room and the other basement rooms were used for, we'll need to take that information back to Central with us."

"Right," the MP officer replied. "I'll go get you some paper, and I'll start collecting those evidence for you." And with that, he left the brothers to their own devices in the basement.

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Winry sighed in relief as she tucked a finally-sleeping Tristan into his crib and slipped quietly from the room. Babies were a lot more work than they looked. Then again, she supposed it would be much easier dealing with one than with three. She just didn't know how Isabelle and Envy managed it, even with Al living here and helping out. And speaking of Al, it appeared that he had already gone to bed. His bedroom door was closed and there was no light coming from below the door. But since the rest of the lights were on in the house, it looked like Isabelle was still up. Winry made her way down the stairs and looked around, finally finding Isabelle curled up on the couch in front of the fire, holding a mug and staring at the dancing flames. Winry entered the room quietly and sat down on the couch beside her.

"Finally get them all to sleep?" Isabelle asked.

"Yes," Winry replied. "I don't think they like this whole bedtime thing, though."

Isabelle chuckled. "Wait until they get older. When the twins were Guinevere's age, it was almost impossible to get them both into bed and to get them to stay there. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that for much of their second year I was pregnant, and that pregnancy was really rough, so poor Envy had to deal with it on his own most of the time."

"Al said he's quite the disciplinarian."

"Oh, we both are. We've both seen one too many little kids acting like monkeys on crack in public, and back when we were first talking about how we wanted to deal with different things that might come up in parenting, we decided that we were not going to tolerate that sort of thing from our children. And since discipline and good behavior start in the home…"

Winry nodded. "You know something?" she said quietly. "You remind me of Ed and Al's mom. I think, had she lived long enough for us to have this sort of conversation, that she would have said exactly the same thing about how she raised those two."

"She did a good job with them," Isabelle mused. "A lot of young people in their situation would have turned to lives of crime or life on the street, but they didn't."

"They tried to transmute their mother, though," Winry said worriedly. "Isn't that against the law?"

Isabelle shook her head. "It's more like an agreements among alchemists that such things should never be done, but it's never been made into a law per se."

"Ah," Winry said. Then the two women sat in silence for a while, watching the fire. After a bit, Winry sighed again, and Isabelle gave her a knowing look.

"You miss him."

"Huh?" Winry asked, raising her head from where it had been resting on her tucked-up knees and staring at Isabelle.

"Ed. You miss him."

The younger woman's face turned a bright red. "Well, yeah, I guess, I mean…we're good friends…But it's only three days, I can't possibly miss him that much! He's coming back tomorrow!"

Isabelle smiled. "You know, back before I met Envy, I would have said the same thing. I mean, I had a lot of other problems going on, but even so there had never really been anyone I would miss after not seeing them for a day or two. But a lot of things changed when I met Envy. I finally had someone to miss after just a day."

Winry studied Isabelle quietly. "But…but…Ed's not Envy, and I'm not you."

"Oh, I know." Isabelle took a sip of her drink and turned her attention back to the fire. "But it's so obvious that you like him. Ed, I mean. You just keep denying it, even to yourself. But you know, Winry…there's no reason for you to do that."

"What? Why?" Winry exclaimed. "What if he says no? What if he doesn't like me like that?"

"I lived my life thinking that way once," Isabelle said. "But I would argue that I had good reason to, because I never had anyone around to observe what was going on or to help me out when things were rough. Trust me, it's not a good way to live. I would have been so much better off paying better attention to the most basic rule of alchemy."

Winry looked confused. "Equivalent exchange?"

Isabelle nodded sagely. "You have to trade one thing to get something of equal value. Or, in the case of life…you have to risk something to gain something." She turned to look at Winry one more time, staring right into Winry's eyes. "You and Ed are in the same position of wanting very much to gain something but being afraid to take the needed risk. And Ed can't see the truth behind applying Equivalent Exchange to his or anyone else's life because he's so caught up in worrying about the details that make the Law imperfect. He hasn't yet moved past the issue of what happens to all the people who pay the price of hard work and never gain the reward of becoming State Alchemists. What he fails to realize is that those people still gained something from their hard work and risk-taking, it's just that they didn't gain the thing they set out to get. The same thing applies in life, Winry. Right now, you and Ed are both caught up in worrying about what will happen if you take a risk and it doesn't go the way you plan. But consider this…as much as it might hurt to not get the thing you want out of taking that risk, what else might you gain?"

Winry pondered that, then said, "Well, I…I guess I wouldn't be so worried about it anymore."

"And isn't that a gain? Perhaps not the one you want, but still a gain?" Winry nodded. "Then take the risk, Winry. And realize that even if it doesn't go the way you want, your friends are all right here for you. We won't let you risk something only to gain nothing in return."


	5. Chapter 5

I'm back! Well, sort of. But anyway, here's a new chapter for all my patient readers...hope you enjoy it. And don't forget to review...it makes your authoress feel loved.

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**Chapter 5**

By the time Envy and Ed arrived at Envy's house the following night, Isabelle was just reading the twins their bedtime story and Guinevere and the triplets had long since fallen asleep. Al greeted his brothers at the door and sent Envy up to see his wife and children while Al and Ed went into the kitchen to get Ed some food. Isabelle appeared moments later, having decided to let Envy finish reading the bedtime story (since he hadn't seen his children in three days). Al went to clean up the toys scattered around the sitting room, leaving Ed and Isabelle alone in the kitchen.

"How was your trip?" she asked, getting a small plate of food for herself and following Ed to the dining room table.

He shook his head. "Very confusing. Actually, Envy and I wanted to talk to you about some of the things we found, but as long as he's busy I have something else I want to discuss with you."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Lust."

Isabelle blinked. "Ok, well…you're old enough to know that lust isn't a good basis for relationships --"

"Not lust like that," Ed interrupted. "Lust the Homunculus."

"Oh, right. I haven't seen her since the triplets were born. How is she?"

"Not so good," the young man replied. "She was talking to me about being tired, and she said she either wants to become a human or be sealed away. I promised I'd talk to you about the possibility of making her human, but…"

Isabelle sighed sadly. "I was afraid it might come to this, if we locked them away. The way we handled Wrath was so much better. He's even getting along with Envy now. But to make Lust human…Ed, I don't think it can be done unless we can find someone willing to do for her what your father did for Envy."

"Give up their life, you mean," Ed said.

Isabelle nodded. "I still haven't figured out exactly how he did it, but I do know that it took his body, soul, and life experiences in combination with Envy's life experiences to both heal me and bring Envy back to a human state. And I have to admit that the two of us have been worried about Envy's health ever since. As far as we can tell, his body is over four hundred years old, and though he seems to be in good health, no human body is meant to be that old and still functioning."

"You're afraid that he's just going to…collapse someday," Ed said.

Isabelle nodded again. "We've accepted it. There's not much else we can do, after all. The thing is, I would be more than happy to talk about that with Lust and then perform the transmutation if she still wanted it, but I still haven't figured out exactly what went into making Envy human. Hohenheim's body? His soul? Was it just the combination of his and Envy's life experiences? What of his sacrifice went into healing me, and what of it went into making his son human again? I still don't know, and that makes it impossible for me to perform a transmutation to make Lust human again."

"It just seems so sad to seal her away," Ed replied. "I feel like…well, we gave Wrath a chance, right?"

"I think she and I need to sit down and have a nice long chat, woman-to-woman," Isabelle said. "I need to be more clear on what she truly wants before I can recommend a course of action."

Ed nodded. Before he could say anything else, though, Envy returned, carrying a pile of thick files, which he set down on the table before leaning over to give his wife a quick kiss on the cheek. "They're asleep," he said.

"Oh good. Elizabeth and Ronan don't seem to like this whole bedtime thing anymore," Isabelle said.

"Did they _ever_ like it?" Envy said dryly. "Hey, did you two get to discuss what we found?"

"Not yet," Ed said. "Where are your sketches?"

Envy sorted through the folders, finally finding the one he wanted and handing it to Isabelle. "The whole place was really creepy," he said. "You know all those people who have been disappearing from around Amestris all year? Apparently every single one of them somehow wound up at this site, and every single one of them was killed. But it happened really recently, and there are no signs of trauma on the bodies. We managed to get the earliest coroner's reports just before we left, and it doesn't look like a whole lot happened to most of the victims internally either. They just…died, but we don't know how. But then there are those," he continued, indicating the folder in Isabelle hand. She frowned and opened it, staring at the pictures inside. "Those are transmutation circles that we found covering the walls, floor, and ceiling in the largest of the rooms in the basements, and the military police said most of the bodies were found in that room."

"These are very strange," Isabelle murmured. "But I feel like I've seen them before…"

"That's just how I felt," Envy agreed. "But I don't know _where_ I would have seen them, or even when."

"I've never seen anything like them," Ed said. "They reminded me of how Al and I used to play with really basic arrays when we were kids, like someone was experimenting with creating new arrays for something, or like they were just learning how to use arrays that have already been created."

Isabelle frowned, laying several of the pictures out on the table. "A room full of strange transmutation arrays…mysterious disappearances…dead bodies with no signs of trauma…it's so surreal. And these arrays look so…so…archaic." She jerked her head up then and stared at Envy. "That's it! I know where I've seen these before."

"Huh? Where?"

Isabelle stood and headed for the door, looking back over her shoulder at the two confused men still sitting at the table. "Where else? In your father's library."


	6. Chapter 6

In this chapter, Isabelle goes into Hermione Granger mode and makes everyone else do it with her, and Winry...well, you'll see. If you read, that is. And if you review, you'll see even more! I know you're out there, reading away, so come join the fun of reviewing!

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**Chapter 6**

Though it was rather late at night by now, Envy, Ed, and Isabelle knew that time was of the essence in solving this mystery. Envy poked his head into the sitting room long enough to call for Al to come help them, and Ed got on the phone to Roy and Hughes, asking them to rouse the others and come help search through the books as well. It took half an hour, but the others arrived as quickly as they could. Isabelle had done a lot of work arranging the books in the library, and she assigned each individual a section of books (Sheska got the section of books in archaic and foreign languages so she wouldn't be able to stop and read). Then, after a few minutes spent studying the sketches of the transmutation circles, they got to work.

It was almost two in the morning when Falman came stumbling out of his assigned area, holding a leather-bound book so large and heavy he could barely see past it. He staggered down the stairs, past the stained-glass window, to the large table in the library's main area, where Envy, Isabelle, Ed, and Roy had gathered to regroup and collect new assignments. They looked up as the grey-haired man approached, and Envy helped him carry the book and arrange it on the table.

"Look at this," Falman said, opening his book to a particular page. "Is this what you found?"

Envy and Ed leaned over the book, studying Falman's circles and Envy's sketches intently. Isabelle craned her neck to look past Ed, then nodded. "That's one of them," she said, pointing to one in the corner of the left-most page. "And there's another." Falman stepped aside so she could flip through the book. On every pages, circles matching those Ed and Ency had found in East City appeared. "This is it," she said, "this is where I've seen them. What is this book, anyway?"

Envy crouched down and lifted the book's heavy front cover just enough to read the title. "Um…'Experimental Alchemical Arrays.' Good skies, this book hasn't been considered recent, experimental, or even SAFE since I was a kid! Hohenheim and Dante invented half of these arrays."

"For what?" Ed asked.

Isabelle stuck one of Envy's sketches in between the pages she was looking at, then flipped back to the beginning of the chapter. " 'The Path to Eternal Life.' What the hell…?"

They stared at the title for a few moments, then Envy gasped and exclaimed, "The Philosopher's Stone. These arrays were early attempts at making a Philosopher's Stone."

"So Hohenheim and Dante kidnapped people to use in conjunction with these arrays?" Isabelle asked.

"No," Envy said. "These arrays are from the very earliest attempts at making a Stone, so we didn't know that the sacrifice of human lives was required to make one."

"So what we're looking at is someone with enough knowledge of the Stone to know that human lives must be sacrificed, but who only knows about these ancient arrays?" Roy asked.

"Looks like it," Envy replied.

"But that doesn't make much sense," Falman said. "I mean, you would think that someone who knew about more recent developments in attempts at Stone-making would know the array that was needed."

"Except that Scar was one of the few people who knew the final Stone-making array," Ed said.

"That's right," Isabelle added. "Hohenheim and Dante are gone. Scar learned it from his brother, but both of them are dead now. Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, and Envy knew it, but Gluttony is gone, Lust and Sloth are in prison, and Envy wouldn't try something like this anyway. That leaves Ed and me, and we wouldn't do it either."

Envy nodded. "The successful Stone-making array was never published."

"But the information about the Stone requiring the sacrifice of human lives was revealed to the public in the hopes of preventing more attempts at making it."

"So basically," Roy said, rubbing his temples and frowning, "what we're dealing with here is a crazed Alchemist who has access to both ancient texts and the means to kidnap large numbers of people as well as the ability to keep all of those people locked up until such time as they were needed and who is also willing to sacrifice human lives to get the Philosopher's Stone."

"Sounds like it," Envy said.

"I would add that this person might try again, now that this attempt has failed," Isabelle said.

"So we're looking at the possibility of more kidnappings?" Ed asked. His sister-in-law nodded. "We need to keep our eyes open, then. And we need to alert the local police and military police forces around Amestris."

"But what will they look for?" Falman asked. "Most of these people vanished without a trace."

Isabelle nodded. "That could be a problem, but I think we can work around it. Right now I'd be more worried about making sure people are alert and don't think that this is over yet."

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For the third time, Winry raised her hand to knock on Ed's front door, and for the third time she let her hand fall without touching the door. This was too hard and too scary. Marriage and kids must have made Isabelle forget how hard it was to stick your neck out and tell someone how you felt for them. Winry just couldn't do it.

Finally, she decided to give it one last try, and if she couldn't manage to knock on Ed's door this time she would call it a day. Slowly, carefully, Winry raised her hand --

-- just as Ed opened the door.

"Ah!" Winry exclaimed, jumping back and nearly falling down the front steps.

"Winry!" Ed shouted, also taking a step back. They stared at each other in shock for a moment. "What are you doing here? I though you'd be working at your shop."

"Oh, ah, well, business was slow to day, so I closed a little early," Winry replied, looking everywhere but at Ed. "Where are you off to?"

"Envy and Isabelle's place. We're having a big meeting about what Envy and I found in East City and how to deal with it," Ed said. "Want to walk over with me?"

"Oh, well, if you're going to work, I shouldn't get in the way!" Winry said cheerfully, holding her hands up as though to ward Ed off.

"Oh. Ok, then" Ed said, sounding a little disappointed. "Well, then, I really should be going…don't want to be late. You be careful on the way home, alright?"

"Sure!" Winry said. She stood aside to let Ed leave and watched him walk up the road. He hadn't gotten all that far when, on impulse, Winry ran to catch up with him.

"Winry?" he asked, giving her a confused look. "Are you okay?"

"Of course!" Winry replied. "I just…er…well, I stopped by to tell you something and…um…well, I like you, Ed."

Ed stared at her as though she had just turned into something other than Winry. "Oh, um, that's…er…good to know," he said. "I like you too. You sure you don't want to come to the meeting with me?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Winry replied, sounding a little deflated. "Well, I'll see you around, Ed." And with that, she finally left, leaving a very confused young alchemist behind.

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"Okay, you two, have a good day at work," Isabelle said as Al and Envy prepared to leave for the office. It was a Saturday, a day that at least one of them would usually have off, but at last night's meeting the entire office had decided to come in for the morning so they could spread the word about watching for future missing persons reports to all of the cities in Amestris. It was going to be a solid morning of calling cities and asking them to pass the word to smaller towns in their areas, but in the end they hoped it would be worth it.

Envy waited until Al had stepped outside, then gathered Isabelle into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss. "Take care of yourself," he whispered. "I should be back a little after noon."

"I know," Isabelle replied. "Don't worry, Winry's coming to help out. Just make sure you get back in time to help me interview the nanny candidates that are coming today. I can't got back to work unless we have someone to take care of the kids while I'm gone. Oh, and we have to pick a school for the twins."

Envy chuckled. "We don't have to pick one today, there's plenty of time. But I promise to be back as soon as possible. I'll see you later!" He left then, saying hello to Winry, who was just arriving. Isabelle stood at the door for a second, watching her husband and her youngest brother-in-law make their way up the road. She turned just in time to see Elizabeth and Ronan come bounding out of the sitting room to tackle Winry, little Guinevere toddling along after them. Whatever Envy had made them for breakfast had obviously had more sugar than Isabelle would have liked. Oh well, no matter. It would just mean the morning would be a little noisier than usual.

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With the kids all finally settled down for naps, Winry collapsed on the couch and stared in shock at her calm friend. "Aren't you exhausted?" she asked.

Isabelle shrugged. "You get used to it after a while," she said. "It's more the numbers that get me. I just about died when I found out I was going to have triplets…"

"How did Envy take it?" Winry asked, grinning.

"Oh, he was ecstatic at first," Isabelle replied. "He had a moment of panic when he remembered that we ALREADY had three kids, and that they were all under five, but he went back to being happy pretty quickly. He's kind of laid-back about these things, you know."

"Hiring a nanny for all of them is going to be expensive, though," Winry said.

Isabelle shrugged. "We still have most of his father's money left, so we're hardly strapped for cash. And we both have good incomes anyway."

"That's good," Winry said, leaning back and closing her eyes.

"You want the job?" Isabelle teased.

Winry sat bolt upright at that. "What? You can't be serious!"

"Sure!" Isabelle exclaimed. "It'll be good practice for when you have kids, if you decide to have them."

Winry sighed. "I'd love to, but you know I have the shop. And somehow I think I'll have all the time in the world to practice handling kids."

"Things not going well with Ed?" Isabelle asked worriedly.

Winry shook her head. "I just don't know what to do!" she wailed. "I went to his house this last night, and I just stood there outside the door for ages because I couldn't get the courage to knock. Then he came out, so I had to talk to him…and I finally told him that I like him and he was all 'gee, that's nice Winry' and he just kept going! Ed doesn't like me!" she wailed.

"Whoa, whoa, Winry, calm down. And please don't wail so loud, you'll wake the babies."

"Sorry," Winry whimpered, sniffling a little.

"It's ok," Isabelle said, patting her shoulder. "Now, what exactly did you say to Ed, and what exactly did he say to you?"

"Oh, um…I said I had stopped by to tell him something, and then I told him I liked him, and he said that was good to know and that he liked me too, and then invited me to the meeting here. But I had to go home."

Isabelle nodded. "You know what I think? I think you weren't clear enough for him. Boys can be dense, Winry. He's probably wandering around right now wondering why you had to make a special trip all the way to his house to tell him you like him. You've been friends since you were little kids, he KNOWS you like him. So, unless you really emphasized the 'like' part, he's probably very confused about why this was so hard for you to say. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

"So what you have to do is be more explicit. I'm not talking about throwing yourself into his arms and declaring your undying love or anything, but you need to let him know that you like him as more than just a friend and are interested in exploring that."

Winry nodded. "So what do I do?"

"Well…you could ask him out on a date."

Winry paled. "Do you…do you think he'd say yes?"

Isabelle shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't see why he'd say no either. But I'm not a guy, so I have no idea what a guy would think of being asked out by a girl. You should ask Al, or Envy. Or Roy even."

"Oh…ok," Winry said quietly. "I'll try that."

Isabelle gave her a quick hug. "You'll be fine, Winry. Don't worry."


	7. Chapter 7

A fresh chapter for your enjoyment. No real rats were harmed in the making of this chapter (and just why am I warning you of this, you ask? Well, that's why you have to read more to find out). As always, reviews are welcome from any and all of my readers.

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**Chapter 7**

The phone calls had been made, the other cities alerted, the potential nannies interviewed, and the list of potential schools for the twins narrowed down to three. Al and all of the children were in bed, and all was quiet in the big old house.

Envy sighed and curled up on the couch. "You told her to talk to me?"

"Or Al or Roy," Isabelle said, leaning against her husband and resting her head on his shoulder. "She's upset over what happened. I though she could use some manly insight."

Envy snorted and wrapped his arms around Isabelle. "She doesn't need manly insight. Ed needs to grow a backbone and ask her out. Though really, I don't think it's going to happen now. He's too confused after that little stunt she pulled."

"But they can't go one like this," Isabelle said softly. "Winry's so uptight lately, because she has all these feelings for Ed but she doesn't know what he thinks, and I've even noticed that Ed seems a little tense lately too. He never seemed like that before Winry moved to Central. I mean, for crying out loud, Envy, when those two are in a room together you could cut the sexual tension with a knife, it's so thick, but something is stopping them from moving forward. I just don't know what."

"It's because they've known each other for so long," Envy said. "They're afraid of losing what they have if this doesn't work out."

Isabelle nodded. "But it will work out, I can feel it. I just wish I could help them more…"

Envy stroked her hair gently. "We can't do anything more than what we're doing. They know they have our support and friendship. They have to do the rest on their own."

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Isabelle made her triumphal return to the hustle and bustle of Roy Mustang's office a week later, after having spent a couple of days introducing the new nanny to the children and making sure she could handle it. Not that there was anything to worry about, really -- the nanny was none other than Winry's grandmother Pinako, who had moved to Central to be closer to her granddaughter and who had fallen in love with the Chamberlain-Elric children on her first visit to the house. Isabelle had been worried about leaving Pinako alone with six kids all day, but it turned out that Pinako didn't mind one bit and was in fact quite good at child-wrangling. Besides, it was almost time for the school year to start, which meant that for a good portion of each weekday the twins would be in school and Pinako would only have to focus on the toddler and the babies. At the other times, there would always be at least one other person around the house.

Isabelle and Envy arrived at work that morning to find that Hughes had arrived with a report for Roy. The Fuhrer came out into the main part of his office space to get the report, meaning that everyone else could listen in as well.

"Whoever did this is good at hiding his tracks," Hughes said. "The only fingerprints we found in the basement belong to the victims. There don't seem to be any witnesses to strange activities in the area, and no one in the city saw any of the victims prior to the reports that they had been found."

"That's very strange," Ed said. "If they died because of alchemy, someone should have seen some light or something. There were small windows in that basement, you know."

"He's right," Envy said. "Even the room with the transmutation circles had a couple of little windows near the ceiling."

"Could they have covered the windows?" Breda asked.

"Yeah, but alchemy tends to create a lot of light," Al said.

"Especially alchemy involving people," Envy said darkly.

Isabelle frowned. "But these arrays are really old and archaic, right? It's obvious they didn't do what their makers wanted them to do. Maybe they don't work as well as regular alchemy arrays. Also," she added, eyes widening as the thought hit her, "we seem to be assuming that this all happened at night, but if it happened during the day any light from the alchemical process might not have been visible!"

"Is there any way to test that?" Fuery asked.

"We don't have any humans to sacrifice," Roy said sourly.

Envy snapped his fingers. "We don't need humans. Back in the old days, when so many of the arrays commonly used now were being invented, alchemists practiced on inanimate objects or on animals. If we could get a hold of some lab rats, we could easily test the arrays."

Before anyone could say anything else, Roy was on the phone, calling down to the research division and ordering a crate of lab rats to be shipped up to his office. Envy shouted at him to request enough boards and tools to make a new crate as well.

"What are you going to do with the boards?" Isabelle asked.

Envy pulled his file full of sketches out of his work bag and opened it on the nearest desk. "I didn't just sketch the individual arrays," he said. "I also drew a diagram of where each one was located in the room. We can build a crate that replicates the room, put a few rats inside, and start and alchemical reaction."

"What will that do?" Fuery asked nervously.

"Hopefully, it'll give us a better idea of what happened to those poor people and why nobody noticed anything was amiss," Isabelle replied, catching on to her husband's idea. "When you have that many arrays together, a transmutation reaction on one sets off reactions on all the others as well. With the arrays currently in use, that would cause a level of light that would be impossible to miss, even on a bright day. But we don't know what would happen with these old arrays."

The rats and the crate-building supplies arrived about ten minutes later. Envy sent the crate supply people back to get some sort of wire to place over the small window he was planning on leaving in the box, then he and Ed set to work labeling the boards and drawing the circles according to Envy's diagram. Roy and Havoc helped them nail the whole thing together, then Breda brought over the rats and herded them into box through the window Envy had left. Roy was closest to the window, and he made quick work of covering it with a bit of the wire that had been brought up.

"Ok, that's done," he said. "Who's going to do the transmutation?" Everyone turned to Isabelle, who, out of all of them, had the most experience with alchemy that directly involved living things.

She gulped, but nodded and strode forward. Envy had drawn one of the transmutation circles twice (once inside the box and once outside, directly over where the original had been drawn) so that no one would have to stick their hands in a box full of angry rats. "Ooh, I hate rats," Isabelle groaned. "You are SO finding a way to make this up to me, Envy."

"I'm sure a can find a way," he said slyly. The others chuckled, and Isabelle steeled herself for the attempted transmutation.

"Okay, everyone, stand back. I don't want anyone getting hurt if this goes wrong. Who has a clear view of the window? Good, Riza, keep a close watch on the window and let us know what happens. Here we go…" With that, Isabelle planted her hands firmly and began the transmutation. Almost instantly, the sounds from the inside of the box ceased. Isabelle held on a bit longer, then raised her hands again and turned expectantly to Riza.

Riza shook her head. "I didn't see anything."

"Nothing at all? No light?"

"No, not even a bit of light."

"Well, that answers that question," Ed said. "No light means nothing for people to see, even at night."

"And the rats went pretty quietly, too," Isabelle said. "They just kind of…stopped moving." She backed away from the box as quickly as she could and went to stand beside Envy, who rubbed her back soothingly while eyeing the box.

"I think that explains how no one noticed the actual use of alchemy," Roy said, "but it doesn't explain how people didn't notice all the strangers being brought in…"

"We need to take another trip to West City and have a chat with the people living and working in that area," Isabelle said. "Roy, you know I wouldn't ask you something like this normally, but…I'd like to lead a new mission to East City to continue the investigation."

Roy nodded. "Who do you want on your team?"

"I'll need Hughes and Fuery. Envy, Ed, and Al as well."

"Consider it done," Roy said. "You can leave whenever your ready."


	8. Chapter 8

So, here we have more investigations in East City, and we follow Roy and Riza on another visit to Wrath. Enjoy, and please review!

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**Chapter 8**

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" Envy asked for probably the hundredth time.

"Of course. They're good kids. Besides, I'll have Winry and your other friends here to help me," Pinako told him. She smiled down at Elizabeth, Ronan, and Guinevere, who were gathered around her and obviously weren't too happy about their parents leaving for even a few days.

"I wanna go too!" Ronan wailed, stomping his foot and giving his parents a very Envy-like glare.

Isabelle knelt down and hugged him. "Sorry honey, but this isn't a trip little kids would enjoy," she said. "We'll be back before you know it, and you can have fun with Aunt Pinako while we're gone."

Ronan sniffled, but he seemed to accept that. Envy and Isabelle said goodbye to the rest of their children (including Niall, Tristan, and Rose, currently being held by Winry and Sheska), then turned to join Fuery in his waiting car. Hughes, Ed, and Al were sitting in a second car, watching the proceedings. Finally, everyone was settled, and the investigators were off.

"Are you sure it's alright to leave Pinako alone with six kids like that?" Envy said, twisting around to look out the car's rear window as they drove away.

"It's fine," Isabelle insisted, trailing her hand up his arm and squeezing his shoulder. "She's not going to be alone, and she seemed happy for the chance to spend some time with the kids. Besides," she whispered, leaning closer so that only Envy could hear her, "I know this isn't a vacation but…we have our own room in the hotel. It'll be a nice chance for us to have some time alone together, don't you think?"

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Four days later, the fresh investigation had turned up nothing. Not a single person in East City could recall having seen any of the victims (except for the ones from the city, but even then most people hadn't seen them for a while before their disappearances). Isabelle was frustrated, Envy was annoyed, Fuery and Hughes were somewhat depressed, and Ed and Al had decided to focus on investigating the basement where the transmutation circles had been found.

And then, something happened.

Fuery had taken over for his shift of interviewing people and was partway through his first interview of the afternoon, which was a somewhat older woman who lived in one of the small apartments in the building cross from the basement.

"Have you seen any suspicious or unusual activity in the area within the past year?" Fuery asked.

The woman thought for a moment, then said, "No, not that I recall."

Fuery nodded, marking that down in his notebook. "How about new or different people in the area?"

"Not in the past year, no," she replied. Fuery wrote that down too and was just about to continue on when she said, "But there is a young woman who moved in a little over a year ago. She's a little bit of a strange one…she dresses funny, and when people look at her apartment from the outside it looks like the curtains are drawn even during the day. Sometimes people complain about strange noises or strange smells…but you know, she's a quiet girl and doesn't seem to bother anyone, so I can't complain about her."

"Which apartment does she live in?" Fuery asked, eyes wide in surprise.

"The one right above mine -- 319."

The woman left shortly thereafter, with Fuery thanking her profusely. He then abandoned his post in favor of finding Envy, Isabelle, and Hughes and telling them what he had found.

"You know, keeping your curtains drawn during the day doesn't make you a criminal," Isabelle pointed out.

"Nor does having a lot of visitors or dressing strangely," Hughes added.

"But the strange smells and sounds…" Envy mused. "That doesn't sound like modern alchemy at all, but weird noises and weird smells were pretty commonplace in the past. People would try mixing chemicals and herbs and such to perform certain alchemical transmutations. We know that's not necessary anymore, but we didn't know that in the past."

"And the strange noises?" Isabelle asked.

"Could be anything," Envy replied. "Depends on what sorts of things she's trying to do."

"It makes sense," Fuery insisted. "We already know that the person we're looking for has been dabbling in ancient alchemy. I think we should at least talk to her."

Isabelle nodded. "I think you're right. Let's go talk to the girl in 319."

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Wrath tossed his head back and laughed at the shocked look on Roy's face. "You so didn't see that coming," he said.

"How could you miss it?" Riza teased, coming to lean over her husband and kiss his cheek as he stared in bewilderment at the chess board before him. Once again, Wrath had beaten him at chess.

"Looks like I'm losing my touch," he mumbled as Wrath set the pieces in their regular spots once more. Roy sighed. "I think you've beat me enough for tonight, Wrath," he said. "Riza and I need to get going."

"Aww, already?" Wrath said sadly. "It's not even that late."

Roy reached over to pat the young Homunculus's hand and smiled. "I know, but we've all been pulling longer shifts because we're a little short at the office right now, and Riza and I usually go in early."

Wrath frowned. "Why are you short at the office? I thought Isabelle went back to work."

"She did, but right now she has Envy, Ed, Al, Fuery, and Hughes with her on another investigation down in East City."

"Still trying to figure out what happened to all those people, huh?" Wrath asked.

Roy nodded. "Isabelle wanted to go investigate again. Last time Envy and Ed were there they discovered a bunch of really old-looking transmutation circles, and it turns out that they were used in the very earliest attempts at making a Philosopher's Stone."

Wrath frowned. "But making the Stone isn't a crime."

"That's true," Roy said, "but killing people is a crime, and it takes a lot of human lives to create a Stone, remember?"

"Oh…right," Wrath said. "I wasn't involved in the others' attempts to make a stone," he reminded Roy.

"It's okay," Roy assured him. "We all forget things sometimes. But you shouldn't be worried about this. Envy and Isabelle and the others are going to take care of it for us, and everything will be fine."

Wrath nodded and saw Roy and Riza out, thanking them for coming to see him and wishing them a good night. They went to their car in silence, but as soon as they had settled in, Riza twisted her head to look out the car window up to where Wrath's window was. She could see him still sitting in the window, though whether he was looking out at them or doing something else she couldn't tell from here.

"I feel bad leaving early," she said to her husband. "He gets lonely here without visitors."

"I know," Roy replied, the guilt clearly audible in his voice. "There must be something we can do about it."

"Well, I've been thinking about that actually…" the blonde woman said hesitantly, "and I was wondering…what would happen if we adopted Wrath?"

Roy was very happy that they had come to a stop sign at that moment, because the shear shock of Riza's suggestion would have made him stop anyway. "What?"

"Remember how we were talking about adopting?" Riza said. "And how I suggested adopting an older child? Well, you and Wrath get along so well, and I think it would be good for him to get out of this place and into a regular home with a normal family. Really, you're already acting like a father to him, Roy…why not make it official?"

They drove in silence for a moment, Roy's head filled with all sorts of stray thoughts -- anything from concerns over how such an arrangement would work to images of the three of them as a picture-perfect family. He was very undecided about the whole thing, and very unsure. But then he glanced over at Riza, who was biting her lip and avoiding his gaze, choosing instead to focus on the buildings and scenery flashing past outside the window.

"Is it what you want to do?" he asked softly. "Do you want Wrath to be your son?"

Riza was quiet for a moment, then she whispered, "Yes."

"Well," Roy said, "Wrath isn't a little kid, you know that. I think he should have a say in this matter. So let's talk to him, and if it's what you want and what he wants…then I'm willing to do what I have to do to make it work out."

Riza was very grateful that they pulled into the driveway of their house just then, because tackling Roy in a joyful hug wouldn't have been the best thing to do while they were still on the road.


	9. Chapter 9

More crazy happenings in East City to be found below...don't forget a review for your author!

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**Chapter 9**

Isabelle rapped sharply one the door and glared at it. "This is the Amestris Military," she called once more. "We'd like to talk to you. Please open your door." No answer. With a resigned sigh, Isabelle pulled a piece of chalk from her pocket. "I really need to get some transmutation circle rings made," she muttered as she drew a basic but very effective circle on the door. Tucking the chalk away, she knocked once more. "For the last time, we are members of the Amestris Military and we need to talk to you. I will not hesitate to alchemize this door out of existence if I need to!" She was just about to press her hand to the transmutation circle she had drawn when, without warning, the door was yanked open to reveal a harried-looking woman in her early twenties, her red hair a frizzy, wild mess around her head and a look of distinct fear in her eyes.

"What do you want?" she demanded, eyes darting around as though looking for hidden people. Envy shifted s bit to the side to give her a better view of Ed and Al, who were standing behind himself and Isabelle.

"Like I said, we're from the Military," Isabelle said. "We're investigating the mysterious appearance of all those dead people in the basement across the street, and since we're questioning everyone who lives nearby, we want to talk to you as well."

"You can't come in! I forbid it!" the woman shouted.

"We're not going to hurt you," Ed said. "We just want --"

"I FORBID IT!" she shrieked, causing a few of her neighbors to stick their heads out their doors and look around in confusion.

Isabelle studied the woman calmly. "Miss, we're going to question you whether you want us to or not. Like I said, we're talking to everybody in the area. You can either talk to us willingly, or we can come back with a warrant to search your apartment and another one to let us bring you in for something more akin to an interrogation. It's your choice."

"Get out of my APARTMENT!" the woman shrieked. "Get out, get out, get OUT!" with that, she grabbed something heavy from inside the door and hurled it at them, causing the four State Alchemists to jump back to avoid the object and giving the woman the chance to slam the door in their faces.

Isabelle sighed and straightened her uniform jacket. "That went well," she said dryly.

"Indeed," Ed said, turning to look at the thing that had been thrown at them.

"Don't take it personally," one of the neighbors said. "She does that to visitors a lot. We don't think she's stable."

Envy nodded to the man. "Thanks for the information. We still need to talk to her, though, so it looks like we need to come back with a couple of warrants."

Ed and Al were absorbed in examining the book, huddled over it and whispering back and forth. The man glanced at them, but apparently decided that they were harmless and continued talking to Envy and Isabelle instead. "Well, when you do, make sure you ask her about what she's going out back every night. We'd all like to know."

Isabelle and Envy exchanged a worried look, while Al and Ed looked up in alarm. "Er…" Isabelle said, "what do you mean, what she does out back at night?"

"We really don't know," The man replied. "A bunch of us went out there the other day to get a look at what she'd been up to. She's been painting all these designs on the back of the building. They're kind of pretty, I guess, but we're not allowed to paint our own places without permission, let alone the building. Somehow I doubt she has permission, and when she saw one of us touching the wall she went a little nuts."

"The designs don't by any chance look like anything in this, do they?" Ed asked, walking over to the man and showing him the book. The man took the book and started flipping through it, while other neighbors gathered around him to see as well.

"That one looks familiar!" a woman said, pointing to a circle on one page.

"That one too," another woman added.

The neighbors went on like that for a good five minutes. Finally, Envy interrupted them. "We need to have a look at the back of the building," he said, eyeing his wife and brothers. "Let's leave the book off with Hughes and Fuery and get Hughes to call in warrant requests. Ed, stay here and make sure she doesn't leave, or at least follow her if she does. Isabelle, Al, let's go look at the back of the building."

Ed took up a post outside the woman's door while the other three headed for the outside, a few of the apartment residents following them. Once they arrived, the went to stand as far back as they could and turned to look at the wall, and gasped in shock at what they saw.

Almost the entire back of the building was covered with multi-colored transmutation circles, carefully drawn and arranged to look like art. At the top of the building, they could see a few paint cans and the spot where climbing gear had been hooked up to allow access to the higher parts of the building. The residents chattered cheerfully about the designs, commenting on the placements and the colors, and Al did his best to engage them in conversation and distract them from his horror-struck relatives.

"Isabelle," Envy whispered, leaning close to his wife so only she could hear, "it's just like what we found in that basement, but in different colors and all laid out on a single flat surface instead of arranged around the room."

"Do you really think she's going to try to alchemize the entire building?" Isabelle whispered back.

"Maybe," Envy replied. "We already know she's not right in the head. Think about it…all she has to do is wait until everyone is asleep, then come out here and do it. If this works like the ones we tested with the rats, there wouldn't be any light to alert anyone. No one would know anything was amiss until a whole bunch of people didn't show up for work and school and such the following day, and even then it might take a while to figure out."

"You stay here," Isabelle said. "I'm going to get Hughes to see if he can get those warrants any faster, and I'm going to get Fuery to alert a cleaning crew to come out here with some paint thinner and start getting rid of these. We can't leave them here."

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The warrants to search the woman's apartment and take her in for questioning arrived an hour later (along with a police squad), and Isabelle, Envy, and the others marched back up to the woman's apartment, where Ed was still waiting and glaring at the door. Isabelle knocked on the door and shouted that they had a warrant and were coming in, then quickly performed the transmutation to turn the door into a pile of ash (just in case they needed it for evidence later) and stalked into the apartment. The woman came racing out of a room farther back in the small apartment, shrieking at them and trying to find things to throw at them. Envy sprang forward and grabbed her, quickly immobilizing her but being very careful not to harm her.

"Alright," Hughes said. "I think we need to transport this woman to Central for questioning. Fuery, you're in charge of making arrangements for that. We also need this apartment scoured for evidence. Everything that can be moved needs to be taken to the offices and labs in Central. Ed, Al, you two are in charge of that. Isabelle, Envy, you two are in charge of calming the masses. I'm going to go check on the efforts to clean the back of this building, and them I'm going to call Roy and let him know what's going on." The others nodded and quickly got to work, with Isabelle and Envy calling some of the police officers to help them out and Ed and Al claiming a few more for help with their own assignment. The rest went to help Fuery with the arrangements for transporting the obviously very upset woman back to Central.

The actual trip back to Central a few days later was uneventful. The two original cars and their occupants were joined by one armored police car containing the woman and several officers, and a few larger transports carrying almost everything that had been in her apartment. They arrived in the city late at night. Fuery saw to it that the woman was put in a safe, secure, and relatively comfortable place, while the others helped move the things from her apartment into the storage area near where they would be examined. Once that was over, they parted ways and headed to their respective homes for a well-deserved night of sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Here we have Ed and Winry cuteness, and Riza wonders if a new holiday has been created. Don't forget to review!

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**Chapter 10**

Ed started his morning by throwing his alarm clock into the wall. Not that he was normally a violent person in the morning, but on this particular day the snooze button just didn't seem to be working, and Ed wanted the jarring noise to end. Sighing, the young alchemist rolled out of bed and padded to where his clock had landed, picking it up and studying it closely. He would have to repair it, but it didn't have to be done right this minute. Ed carried the clock downstairs and set it on his kitchen table, where he would see it when he got home after work.

After breakfast, a shower, and pulling on his uniform, Ed was ready for work. A quick glance at the clock on the kitchen wall showed him that he was actually early. He had time to make a little side trip on the way to work. He left his small house, carefully locking the door behind him, then turned and headed up the road towards the center of the city. On the very edge of the area considered the city center, Ed came to the corner where Winry had set up her automail shop. Though she wasn't officially open yet, Ed could see her inside the shop, puttering around and making sure everything was in order. He tested the door and, finding it open, stepped inside.

"Sorry!" Winry's voice came from behind the counter. She came out of the back room where she stored her tools and more valuable materials, wiping her hands on a clean cloth. "We're not open for another…Oh, Ed! What are you doing here?"

Ed smiled at her. "I had some extra time before work, so I thought I'd stop by and see how things are going," he said.

"Oh, things are good," she said. "The shop is doing well…you're back sooner than I thought you'd be from that mission in East City."

"Yeah, well, when you have Isabelle around, things go faster," he said dryly. "She can be a real take-charge kind of woman when she wants to be."

Winry nodded and ran the cloth over her counter, pretending to clean dust that wasn't there. "Yes, I guess she is."

The two stood there for a while, the air thick with an awkward silence. Finally, Ed cleared his throat. "Well, I have to go to work, but um…Winry…I was wondering…the other day, when you came by the house to say you liked me…er…what was that all about?"

Winry's head jerked up and her cheeks turned a bright crimson. "Well, you know, Ed…er…I DO like you, and…well…I just thought I should tell you that…"

"Winry, we've been friends all our lives," Ed said. "I already know you like me like that. Is there something else?" Winry dropped her gaze to her countertop and sighed. Ed took a step closer and bent down a little, trying to see her eyes, but she wouldn't let him. Finally, he gave up and turned to leave. He had made it all the way to the door and was resting his hand on the handle, when he turned to look back at Winry and said, "You want to go out to dinner sometime? Maybe tomorrow night?"

"What?" she exclaimed, looking up at him in shock. "I mean…sure!"

"Great. "I'll come for you around five, okay?" And with that, he was gone.

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"You actually asked her?" Al asked as he and his brother made their way up the stairs to Roy's office.

"Yep," Ed replied, grinning. He pushed the office door open and entered the already busy room, dropping his work bag on his desk chair and slipping out of his coat.

"So, tomorrow, huh?" Al asked. "Where are you going to take her?"

"Take who?" Envy asked, sauntering over to his half-brothers and munching a bright red apple. Al raised an eyebrow at the food item. Envy shrugged. "You missed the Great Guinevere Meltdown this morning. I didn't get to finish my breakfast. So, Edo-chibi, who's this girl I hear rumors of you taking out?"

"I'm not that much shorter than him now, why is he still calling me chibi?" Ed grumbled to Al.

The youngest Elric chuckled. "You really think he'd stop even if you were taller than him?"

"Probably not," Ed said dryly. "Anyway, palm tree-san," he continued, trying to ignore the fact that Envy almost chocked on his apply in shock, "I stopped by Winry's shop this morning and asked her out to dinner tomorrow night, if you must know."

"About time," Roy said, coming over and handing Envy a file. "I was beginning to wonder if you had anything that even remotely resembled a sex drive."

The loud noise of a stack of papers hitting Roy's shoulders caused the older man to jump. "What is this, Pick On Edward Elric Day?" Riza asked, frowning at her husband and Envy. "Anyway, Roy, you need to read and sign these today."

Roy sighed. "But have you seen all the paperwork I already have?"

"They get read and signed today or else," Riza said. Roy cringed, then snapped a hasty salute. Riza smiled and patted his shoulder before moving on to her own desk.

"Is Isabelle like that to you?" Roy asked, turning to Envy.

Envy munched his apple a little more, crossing his arms (but still holding the apple up) and tapping the file against his side. "Mmm…nope!" he replied gleefully before bounding over to his desk to check the file.

"Someone gave Envy too much sugar and caffeine this morning," Ed observed.

"Aunt Pinako made pancakes," Isabelle said from her spot by the window. "And Envy really likes maple syrup. Lots and lots of maple syrup." She pushed away from the window and went to read the file over Envy's shoulder, then looked up and motioned for Ed to join them. "You should see this too, if you're going to help us question that woman from East City."

Ed went to stand at Envy's other side and also leaned over to read the file. Envy handed him some of the papers he and his wife had already read. "So, it looks like her psych evaluations came back clear," he said.

"Yeah, but just barely," Ed said, pointing to the charts on one of the pages he held. "And she might be all normal in a meeting with a psychiatrist, but she's obviously disturbed. I mean, who tries to transmute their apartment building?"

"Agreed," Isabelle said. "There's something go on here that no one else knows about. The only question is what."

"I guess we get to find out in an hour," Envy said. "That's when she's being moved to Hughes's office for questioning."

"Hughes's office? Is he going to be there too?" Isabelle asked.

Envy nodded. "He said he would be, anyway."

"Good," Ed said. "I'm not looking forward to this though."

"Neither are we," Isabelle said grimly.


	11. Chapter 11

Some explanations are given, and some questions are raised...don't forget to review!

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**Chapter 11**

Hughes had one of the more comfortable and cheerful offices in the wing meant for Roy's personal staff, coworkers, and subordinates. It was usually filled with plush armchairs neatly arranged around the edge of the room, plush two somewhat more formal but still plush chairs facing his desk. The walls, desk, and coffee table situated by one cluster of armchairs all bore pictures of important people and events in Hughes's life -- his wedding to Gracia, his daughter Elicia's first picture, more recent pictures of their family, pictures of his friends' weddings, even a portrait of Hughes and the others at the triplets' official naming ceremony. The pictures were usually joined by an assortment of plants, flowers in vases, books, and stacks of papers.

So it was something of a shock when Ed, Envy, and Isabelle arrived at Hughes's office to discover that the armchairs, coffee table, plants, books, vases, and framed photos had all been removed. The desk had been pushed back against the wall. A medium-sized table and five chairs had been brought in and placed in the very center of the room, and a few military police were stationed around the room.

"What's all this?" Ed asked.

"Measures to make sure we all walk out of here uninjured," Hughes said as he too arrived. "Isabelle told me that our guest was a little…er…prone to throwing things around, so I thought I'd minimize the risk." They four settled themselves around the table and Hughes handed them extra copies of the woman's file. "I know there's basic information in there, like her name, but I want to start off with questions about those things just to get the ball rolling. Let me start, and I'll hand things off to the rest of you soon." The three Alchemists nodded, and Hughes in turn nodded to one of the MPs, who left the room. He returned several moments later, guiding two other MPs who were escorting the red-haired woman. The brought her to the table's empty seat and helped her sit down, then took up posts by the office's door.

Hughes cleared his throat and leaned forward just a bit. "Ok, we're going to jump right into this. Let's start off with some basic information…what is your name?"

"Susan. Susan White," she said softly, not bothering to look up at Hughes of his companions.

Hughes checked her file and nodded. "And where are you from, Ms. White?"

"East City," she answered. "I grew up there."

Hughes nodded again. "Do you know why you're here?" Her lip twitched, but she didn't say anything. "Ms. White?" Hughes prompted. "I asked a question, and I would really appreciate an answer."

"Because I tried to make the Philosopher's Stone," she whispered.

Isabelle tapped Hughes's shoulder and leaned forward herself. "You were using really old transmutation circles," she said.

Susan nodded. "They were the only ones I could find."

"But you knew that it took human lives to make a Stone."

Susan raised her head and looked at Isabelle through empty, haunted grey eyes. "It makes sense that it would take lives to bring other lives back, doesn't it? Isn't that the Law of Equivalent Exchange the alchemists are always going on about?"

"So you knew that making the Stone would require you to take the lives of other people?" Ed asked in obvious disbelief. Susan just nodded.

Hughes frowned. "But surely you understand that that's murder, and murder is illegal," he said.

Susan laughed bitterly. "You're so funny, you know that?" she said, turning her attention to the bespectacled man. "If murder is so illegal, then why won't the police put more effort into finding the people who took everything from me?"

The others exchanged a curious glance, then Hughes turned his attention back to Susan and said, "What do you mean?"

"The blonde kid understands," Susan said, staring at Ed. "He's the Fullmetal kid, isn't he? And didn't he and his brother try to transmute their mother when she died?"

"How is that relevant?" Envy asked, obviously put on edge by the woman's statement.

"Because he knows how I feel. He was willing to do anything he needed to bring his mother back. I was willing to anything I needed to bring my husband, my sister, and my children back."

"I don't understand," Hughes said carefully. "Can you explain a little more?"

"My family has always lived in East City," Susan said quietly. "Even as a little girl, I knew I would never leave. That was just confirmed when I fell in love. He had grown up in the city, and he didn't want to leave either. So, we got married and started a family. We lived in a little house on the outskirts of the city. After my parents died, my younger sister -- my only sister -- moved in with us. She had been very sick, and hadn't been able to spend much time in school, so she couldn't get a good job. My husband and I worked and supported her, and in exchange she stayed home with my son and daughter and took care of them. Until three years ago, anyway. I got out of work late that day, which is the only reason I'm alive right now. I got home to find that my entire family had been killed…I worked with the police for two years to find them, but the killers were never found."

"That must have been terrible," Isabelle murmured.

Envy sighed and leaned forward, raking his hands through his hair. "Ok, so you wanted to create the Stone to bring your family back…but how did you kidnap all those people?"

"Oh, they came willingly," Susan said dreamily. "I told them they were going to help me find my family, and they agreed to come."

Isabelle frowned. "But did you tell them what they help would entail? Because I find it hard to believe that people would be willing to give their lives for that."

Susan looked at her like she had lost her mind. "I told them they were going to help me make a Philosopher's Stone. I assumed they knew what that meant."

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"She's completely unstable," Ed declared once they had returned to Roy's office over an hour later. "I don't know how they could have cleared her for anything."

"I agree," Hughes said grimly. "And yet…it seems that she understands exactly what she did, and that she brought those people there knowing full well that they would have to die for her to make a Stone. She doesn't even try to hide it."

Roy sighed. "Hughes, you're going to be presenting the evidence from out office at the trial. I don't envy you the job, and I certainly don't envy the jury who is going to have to decide this woman's fate. Are you going to be alright with this job?"

Hughes nodded. "I can handle it. I'm just worried about the woman…this is going to be hard on her. Very hard indeed."

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It was around one in the morning when Envy awoke to find himself alone in bed. That wasn't so unusual, except that he hadn't heard the babies crying and he didn't think there was any need for Isabelle to be up and about. Envy rolled out of bed and went to look for his wife. He found her standing in the door to the nursery, watching the triplets sleeping peacefully. Envy walked up behind her and wrapped his arms tenderly around her, tilting his head down to kiss the bare skin of her neck. "Are you alright?" he whispered.

"I guess," Isabelle whispered back. "I was just thinking about things."

"Oh?" Envy asked, raising an eyebrow. "What sorts of things?"

"The things Susan was talking about today," she whispered, pulling away from Envy just long enough to back out of the nursery and close the door, then returning to the refuge of his embrace. "How her entire family was destroyed like that. You and the kids are my life…what would I do if I ever lost you? I can stand here right now, with you right in front of me and the kids all asleep and safe in their rooms and say that I would never do anything as crazy as trying to transmute you or trying to trick people into letting me use them to try making a Philosopher's Stone, but…right now, I'm perfectly rational. Would I be like that if all of you were gone?"

"I see what you mean," Envy replied, kissing her cheek tenderly.

"And because of that, I have a very hard time seeing Susan as a bad person. I don't think she's well, not at all. But Envy…they could easily put her to death for this. And I don't think she deserves that. Look at all the progress Wrath has made in the past few years. With the right kind of help, maybe Susan could become well again too."

Envy nodded. "I think Hughes is going to fight for that. But there's not really much we can do about it besides letting him know that we would support a move to get Susan into therapy and rehabilitation."

Isabelle opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the sound of a hearty wail from within the nursery. "Sounds like someone's hungry," she said wryly. "Go grab the bottled from the kitchen and help me out, will you?"

"Of course, love," Envy replied before slipping away as Isabelle turned to the nursery door, ready to soothe the crying infants within. Indeed, as difficult as these early morning feedings and diaper changings were, Envy had to agree with his wife. He didn't know what he would do if they were taken from him. He just knew it wouldn't be pretty.


	12. Chapter 12

It's Ed on a date! Not that the poor thing knows how to deal with a date, though...Does he crash and burn? Does he survive? And what else happens in this chapter? Only one way to fine out...and please remember to review!

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**Chapter 12**

Ed felt so very out-of-place, he was absolutely certain that there were no words in any human language, current or past, to describe just how out-of-place he felt. Here he was, dressed in some of his best clothes, in one of Central City's nicer restaurants, with the incredibly gorgeous Winry Rockbell sitting across from him sipping from an elegant wine goblet like this was something she did every day. It wasn't fair, really. She had been the one acting all strange and randomly appearing on his doorstep just to announce that she liked him, after all. Shouldn't she be the one feeling nervous right now?

"Are you okay?"

"Eh?"

Winry sighed. "Ed, you've been so tense all night. Are you okay?"

"Oh…yeah, I'm fine," Ed replied, blushing. Leave it to Winry to make him blush. "It's just that…um…I've never been here before and…er…I don't get dressed up much, and…" he trailed off helplessly.

Winry blushed too. "Well, it was nice of you to take me here. How'd you find this place, anyway? It's really nice."

"Havoc suggested it. He said he liked to bring his girlfriend here for special occasions."

The blonde woman eyed her date in alarm. "Jean Havoc has a girlfriend?"

Ed nodded. "Apparently he and Sheska have been going out for a while now."

"Wow. I really didn't see that one coming," Winry said. She looked a little dazed.

"Neither did I," Ed answered. "I don't think anyone did, really. Anyway, are you finished? Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure!" Winry said cheerfully, taking one final sip of her wine. Ed paid their bill and the pair headed off, strolling down Central's main street. They were quiet for a long time -- so long, in fact, that Ed started to wonder if something was wrong.

"So, um…did you enjoy dinner?" he finally asked.

Winry grinned at him. "It was great! We need to do stuff like that more often. You?"

"Oh yeah! We really should go out more often."

"Oh? Is the Fullmetal Alchemist hinting that he wants more dates with Winry Rockbell?" she teased.

Ed's face turned scarlet. "What?" he spluttered. "No…yes…maybe? Do you want more dates?"

Winry laughed. "Why are you getting flustered so easily, Ed? It's just me! We've known each other forever!"

"And that's exactly why I'm so flustered and nervous!" Ed exclaimed, bringing Winry's laughter to an abrupt halt. "Winry, you're my best friend. The thing is, though, as I've gotten older, I've come to have deeper feelings for you. But I'm afraid of losing you as even a friend if things don't turn out right with us. I don't know what I'd do without you as a friend."

Winry stepped closer to him and took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze as sme smiled up at him. "Then that just means that we don't rush things, right?"

Ed snorted, but he smiled too. "Don't let Envy and the others hear you say that."

"Why not?"

"Because I can hear them now. I strongly suspect that Mustang especially thinks we should at least be engaged by now."

"Well, it's not their relationship, is it?" Winry asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder, turning sharply on her heel, and heading off into the night. "You coming?" she called over her shoulder. "It's chilly out here. We should go someplace warm and talk about automail or something. I've got some new models in the works and I want your opinions."

Ed grinned and trotted after her. "Right behind you!"

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It had been an incredibly tense day for Roy Mustang. He had attended the trial of the woman Hughes and company had brought back from East City, and he could tell that the jury's deliberations were going to be long and messy. Roy had to admit that he was surprised they had even let the woman stand trial, since she was obviously not well. But the judge in the case had decided to let the trial continue. Hughes was pushing for the woman to be given a sentence of indefinite imprisonment, with a final prison term length to be set following a psychiatric evaluation performed by a psychologist not familiar with the case as well as the prescription of a course of therapy and rehabilitation for the woman. Roy hoped the jury would agree with his friend, as this seemed to be the most humane and reasonable option under the circumstances.

He had then returned home with Riza, and the two had changed out of their uniforms and into dress clothes, for they had a special dinner date tonight. They had spent a lot of time together lately discussing the possibility of adopting Wrath, and had finally been approved as adoptive parents by the boards in charge of overseeing such applications in Amestris. But because of Wrath's age, the Mustangs had requested permission to include Wrath in the actual adoption process, starting with finding out whether or not he wanted to become their son. Roy was nervous about that, but he was more worried about Riza -- it had become obvious to him over the past few weeks that she desperately wanted to adopt the young Homunculus and that she would be crushed if he said no. She had been in a very bad mood all day as a result of her nervousness, but now even that had given way to something Roy had never thought he would see -- his beloved Riza looked downright scared.

"Are you ready?" he asked her as he stepped out of the bathroom, carefully adjusting his tie.

"I think so," she said, her voice shaking from nervousness. "Are you?"

"As ready as I can be," he replied, going to give her a warm hug. "It's going to be fine," he whispered.

"But what if he says no? What then?" Riza asked.

"Then we take the time to come to terms with it, and continue the process with another child," Roy answered. "One thing we will unfortunately never run out of in this world is children in need of loving homes. Come on, now, we don't want to be late picking up Wrath."

They arrived at Wrath's dorm to find that he was standing outside waiting for them, wearing black dress pants and a crisp white shirt topped off by an indigo-colored, satiny vest. His normally unruly black hair had been tamed and tied back in a ponytail held in place by a ribbon that matched his vest, and he had a long black coat draped over one arm. He grinned and waved as the Mustangs pulled up to the dorm's door, then bounded down the front steps and climbed into the beck seat, leaning forward just long enough to squeeze Riza's shoulder. Riza beamed, and Roy turned to grin at the young man.

"Look at you," he said approvingly. "You have good taste."

Wrath shrugged. "You're the one who bought these for me," he reminded the Fuhrer. "I like them, though. They're really nice."

"They suit you, too," Riza said as Roy turned the car around and they left the dorm grounds. Wrath grinned at her.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the restaurant. Wrath was a little confused by all the silverware at first, having never dined in a place as fancy as this, but Roy patiently explained it all to him and he caught on quickly. He also had no idea what to order from the menu, but Riza helped him with that and Wrath wound up fairly certain that his meal would be edible at the very least. Indeed, the meal was the best he could remember ever eating, right until the last bite of dessert.

Finally, with the meal over and most of the plates cleared away, Roy glanced at Riza, who gave him a small nod. Wrath had been too busy contemplating the fountain out in the garden (clearly visible through the window they were near) to notice the exchange. But when Roy cleared his throat, that caught Wrath's attention and made him turn his violet eyes to the humans before him.

"Wrath, we brought you here for a couple of reasons," Roy began. "The first is that we just thought it would be nice for you to get out and do something. The second is that we really wanted to spend some more time with you, especially considering that we've all been so crazy with that case from East City lately. But there's also a third reason…"

"You see," Riza said, picking up where her husband left off, "Roy and I have been married for a few years now, and at first we weren't sure about having children. Back when Isabelle had the twins, I swore to Roy that I would never give birth. It…well, let's just say it didn't look all that fun. Instead, I told him that if we decided to have kids, we were going to adopt. At the time I was kind of joking, but then the idea actually grew on me."

Wrath nodded. "I can understand that. You two would make good parents." Though he would never admit it to anyone, the conversation so far was hurting him. Why in the world were Roy and Riza telling him all this? Were they trying to prepare him for even fewer visits from them, all because they had just adopted some little baby? He bet they would expect him to be happy about that too…and Wrath, being the nice young man he had become, would pretend to be happy because he cared about them. But really, how could he be happy when it would mean less time with the two people who meant the most to him and had done the most to help him out in the past few years? Man, this was tough.

Roy blushed and chuckled. "Well, we can certainly hope," he said. "Anyway, when Riza first mentioned it to me again this year, I was a little uneasy, especially since she wanted to adopt older children instead of infants. It just seemed like such a thing would be setting ourselves up for problems. But then she told me that she already had a prospective son in mind."

Wrath's eyes widened in shock and he stared at both Mustangs in turn. No way…there was just no way…could Roy really be suggesting what he thought the man was suggesting? "You can't be serious," he whispered.

"We're quite serious," Riza replied. "You and Roy get along so well. I stand there and watch you two, and all I can think is that it's like you've been part of our family for years. All that's left is making it official…but only if you want to."

"We wouldn't be bringing this up at all if it wasn't something we were sure about ourselves," Roy added. "We're not going to change our minds about this in the future. In fact, we're prepared to start the process any time you want, if that is indeed what you want."

Wrath just gaped at them, mouth open in shock. He quickly came to his senses and snapped his jaw shut, then blinked rapidly, then started dabbing at his eyes with the corner of his napkin and sniffling a bit. "I can't believe it," he whispered.

Riza leaned over to pat his arm soothingly. "You don't have to decide right now --"

"I don't have to think about it," Wrath interrupted. "I just never thought you'd even consider it…I mean, I'm a Homunculus and all, and even though everyone says I've gotten a lot better you know you're going to be getting a whole load of problems along with me…I just never thought anyone would want to deal with that, even a little bit."

"Wrath, honey," Riza said, scooting closer to him and hugging him gently, "we know all about that. And we want to help you, because we love you."

"I love you guys too," he murmured into his shoulder. "So yeah," he added, raising his head and giving Riza a teary smile, "whenever you guys want to go ahead and make this all official is great by me."


	13. Chapter 13

Well, this was supposed to be the last chapter, but then I re-read the original version of it and decided that I didn't like it...so this is the new Chapter 13, with at least a Chapter 14 to be written tonight or tomorrow. Yay! So yeah, enjoy it, and please review.

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**Chapter 13**

It was the middle of a bright, sunny weekend afternoon in Central City, but Isabelle was content to spend some time inside. She had someone important to visit, something important to do. But this wasn't going to be a pleasant visit. Isabelle steeled herself for her impending task as she entered the office near the entrance to the prison where the Homunculi Sloth and Lust were being held. She signed in, then one of the police officers left his spot behind the desk and escorted her down the maze of hallways to the special wing where Lust had been placed. He opened the heavy metals doors separating her cell from the rest of the prison and ushered Isabelle through before shutting the doors behind her.

Lust looked up to see her visitor, a bored expression marring her attractive face. But that boredom vanished when she realized that it wasn't Edward Elric, her most regular visitor, standing before her. "Isabelle. It's been a very long time."

"Yes, that it has," Isabelle replied quietly. "Still hanging in there?"

"Not like I have much choice," the other woman replied, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against her wall.

"Right, about that," Isabelle murmured. "Um…Ed told me about what you said the last time he was here."

"What I said…oh, right about becoming human. So, the boy talked to you like he promised, did he?"

Isabelle nodded, then glanced around as though making sure nobody was watching, then pulled a marker from her pocket, scribbled a transmutation circle on her hand, and transmuted the lock out of existence. She swung the door to Lust's cell open and stepped inside, taking a seat beside the other woman. "Lust…I know you want to become human again. But you have to understand that it's not something that can happen under normal circumstances."

Lust sighed. "So in all your research, you haven't found a way to make a Homunculus a human."

Isabelle shook her head sadly. "The only successful example we have of such a thing is Envy, and given the circumstances, we're not sure what of Hohenheim's sacrifice went into saving me and what went into making Envy human again."

"Which means that you can't reproduce what happened to your husband."

"Exactly."

Lust nodded slowly, then turned her attention to the small window. "Do you think you ever will figure it out?"

"It's possible," Isabelle said slowly, " but it's also highly likely that the answer won't be found in my lifetime. Maybe not even in my children's lifetimes."

The Homunculus woman pondered that for a moment, then nodded again. "I understand. But you see, I'm a Homunculus. Time doesn't really mean a lot to me, you know? I've been thinking things over since Edward was here, and I've decided that I'm not ready to be sealed away yet. But I don't want to stay here, either. After all," she said, turning to smile at Isabelle, "it might be possible for me to become human again someday. I'd like to be around for that, but I'd also like my freedom. I know you people worked something out with Wrath…perhaps a similar arrangement could be made for me?"

Isabelle shrugged. "Can't hurt to ask, can it? You've been behaving well here, that should go a long way in your favor." She patted the other woman's shoulder before standing to leave. After re-creating the cell's lock, she fixed he brown eyes on Lust's deep violet ones and said, "I'll go talk to Roy Mustang about it and see what he can do for you. Just be patient a little longer."

"I'll be patient for as long as I need," Lust said. "I've got all the time in the world."

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As it turned out, the great Elric-Rockbell Romance went far better than even Ed and Winry had thought it would. It went so well, in fact, that the two went out almost every night, and were often out quite late. For the most part, this wasn't a problem -- Al and Pinako were still living with Envy and Isabelle, so it wasn't like coming home late would bother anyone else. It did result in Ed and Winry arriving at their respective jobs a little more tired than usual on some days, though. In that way, Winry was lucky that she worked alone. She only had herself to answer to, and she was also able to adjust her business's open hours to better accommodate her social life. Ed, however, had a set time to arrive at work every morning, much to his own dismay.

Finally, the day came when Ed managed to stay out so late that it was early in the morning by the time he was ready to leave Winry (late nights dancing will do that to you) and Winry, being the nice woman that she is, offered to walk with Ed to the office before heading home herself. This, of course, meant that everyone saw them together, and everyone saw the quick kiss good-bye they shared before Winry headed off to her own place. By the time Ed made it up to the office, Havoc, Breda, Fuery, Falman, and even Hughed were already deep in discussions about some sort of pool, while Envy and Isabelle just rolled their eyes, Riza glared, and Roy told them (many times over and always in vane) that he didn't approve of betting pools in his office.

"So, how _are_ things going, anyway?" Isabelle asked him softly once he had set his things down and come to stand by her desk.

"Oh, really good," he said. "But I shouldn't have stayed out so late…"

"Just means you won't do it again next time," Envy grunted, burying his nose in the report he held. He sighed. "Looks like Susan's case is going to go to trial after all."

Isabelle looked up in surprise. "They found her mentally fit to stand trial?"

"Yeah, just barely," Envy said, waving to the report. "You know…there's no denying her guilt, Isabelle. She killed those people with her experiments, and if we hadn't stopped her she would have done it again. But she's not well."

"I have no doubt that she'll be found guilty," Hughes said, leaving his betting co-workers and joining the Elrics at Isabelle's desk. "But I don't think she'll get a heavy sentence because, like Envy says, she's not well. I've lodged a special request for that to be taken into consideration during the proceedings."

"I hope they take that to heart, then," Isabelle said. "Susan needs help, not punishment, and she can't get that help if she's rotting in a prison cell."

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"You know, that day I wore dress clothes for dinner with you guys…well, it wasn't supposed to become a common thing, you know?"

Riza raised an eyebrow at Wrath's words. The young Homunculus was trailing behind her, trying to adjust his tie without loosening it too much. "Well, you can't expect to come to a military base dressed in casual civilian clothes."

Wrath let out a resigned sigh and wilted a bit, earning a chuckle from Roy. "We can at least let him take the tie off, can't we, Riza?" he asked.

"It's part of his outfit. He'd look silly without it," she said, giving Roy a betrayed look. "Don't tell me I'm going to wind up being the sole disciplinarian in the house."

"Aren't you already?" Roy asked. Riza's eyes widened and she rested her hand on the butt of her gun, causing Roy to throw up his hands and exclaim, "Alright, I surrender! I promise to behave…what about you, Wrath?" But Wrath was too busy trying not to laugh too loudly to actually say anything. "See? He agrees too!" Roy said. Riza sighed and let her hand fall, but her lips twitched into a small smile, letting the others know that everything was indeed alright.

"Come on, then," she replied, turning and heading up the hall. "We're going to be late for work."

Roy and Wrath obediently followed after her, and moments later the three arrived at the controlled chaos that was Roy Mustang's office. Fuery and Havoc were in the midst of a heated debate over whether or not Ed and Winry should move in together, Breda and Falman were trying to get them to stop, Hughes had his fingers stuck in his ears and was humming random notes to distract himself, Ed was having a patented Edward Elric Meltdown ("WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE SHOULD MOVE IN TOGETHER, WE'VE ONLY BEEN DATING FOR A MONTH!!!"), Envy was antagonizing him ("Well, if she moved in with you, she could reach all the high places you can't, o-chibi-san." "WHO'S SO SHORT HE CAN'T EVEN SEE OVER THE TOPS OF TODDLERS' HEADS???" "Ah, classis Edo-kun, haven't seen that in ages"), and Isabelle was threatening her husband with grievous bodily harm if he didn't leave Ed alone. Al was trying valiantly to get some work done, but he looked on the verge of giving up when his superiors and Wrath arrived.

"Hi Roy, Riza. Oh, and Wrath, what are you doing here?"

"Just visiting," Wrath said, doing his best to look innocent. Apparently he failed, though, for Al's eyes narrowed in suspicion. He didn't have a chance to question Wrath any further, though, for Roy stepped forward and gave a loud shout to get everyone's attention. Miraculously, everyone fell silent, even Ed (who stopped in mid-rant).

"May I have your attention please? Thank you," Roy said.

"Hey, Wrath-chibi is here," Envy said.

"Envy, if I hear you say 'chibi' one more time today, you are sleeping on the couch for the next year," Isabelle growled. Envy cowered a bit, but seemed to understand the Isabelle was just upset and didn't actually intend to carry out her threat. Or so he hoped, at least.

"Right," Roy said. "Anyway, we have an announcement." All eyes fixed on him in awe as he put his arm around Wrath's shoulders and said, "Riza and I are going to adopt Wrath."

There had been a lot of noise in the office before. In fact, there had been a lot of noise in the office when Roy, Riza, and Wrath arrived. But it was nothing compared to the sounds of celebration that erupted from the gathered friends at that announcement.


	14. Chapter 14

This is it...the end of the story, and the end of the trilogy. I might write something about the relationship between Roy, Riza, and Wrath later on, but that depends on a lot of things. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, because I know I did. And don't forget to leave me a parting review :)

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**Chapter 14**

"So, when is everything going to be finalized?" Ed asked. "And do you need help moving any of Wrath's stuff into the house?"

Roy shook his head. "No, he's just bringing his clothes with him. We're going furniture shopping tomorrow, and he should be moving in next week. I guess everything will be finalized then."

"He's so happy, you know," Isabelle said. "Envy and the twins and I went to see him last night, and he just couldn't stop talking about how much he was looking forward to leaving the dorms and moving in with you…he kept asking us if he thought you'd prefer to be called Dad or Papa."

Roy beamed while Hughes and Al settled into a debate over the merits of "Dad" versus "Papa." Isabelle just shook her head and turned her attention to her lunch as Envy joined the mock-argument. All was well for the next few minutes. Then, Riza stormed in and dropped a stack of papers on the table in front of Roy. She looked ready to shoot the first person who looked at her wrong.

"What, I did all my work today," Roy said, eyeing the papers nervously.

"Read them, Roy," she replied, obviously on the verge of tears. "Read them."

Roy's eyes darted over the papers, his face settling further and further in a frown as he read. "That's not what the agency told us a few weeks ago," he growled.

"Can I see?" Envy asked. Roy handed the papers to him and Isabelle leaned over his shoulder to see.

"Apparently they were just telling us we'd be good candidates to adopt Wrath, not that we could," Riza said. "So when I went down today to get the papers we need to sign…well, first I got treated like I was an idiot, and then I was told we have to go through this whole process. It could take a year if we run into any complications!"

Isabelle yanked one of the papers from Envy's hand and scowled darkly at it. "Hom inspections? Psychiatric evaluations? Financial and background checks? Interviews with close friends? I mean, I suppose the sentiment is fine -- they just want to make sure you two will be good parents to Wrath. But how is this fair? Envy and I had six kids and nobody even questioned our fitness to be parents, not even once!"

"But they have to do it," Envy pointed out. "Otherwise, they can't adopt Wrath at all."

"What if there's a problem?" Riza asked softly. "What if they find something, and won't let us do it? What if they say no?" Once again, she looked on the verge of tears.

Ed looked at her as though she had just said she wanted to divorce Roy and marry Black Hayate. "Who the hell are you and what have you done with Riza Hawkeye Mustang? Snap out of it! So, they want to look at your house and talk to us, what's the big deal?"

"There's more to it than that, Ed," Hughes said. "Adoption is tough. Even silly things can be used as reasons to turn prospective families down."

"Well, we just won't give them those reasons, then," Fuery insisted. "We'll help Roy and Riza clean the house so it's presentable. We'll give good interviews. We'll make sure the world knows they'd be great parents for Wrath, if that's what it takes."

The others let out a cheer of agreement. It was settled -- no way were they going down without a fight.

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And so began the combined efforts of the office to make sure that the Fuhrer and his wife were able to adopt a teenage Homunculus orphan. Each day before or after work, the friends would head to the Mustang mansion for a few hours of cleaning and repairing anything that needed it. Riza turned into something of an emotional mess for the first week of waiting and worrying, but she managed to pull herself together when she saw the way her concern was influencing Wrath. The poor thing spent a lot of time looking nervous and sick until Riza finally started acting more normal.

Hughes did some quiet investigating and discovered the kinds of questions Roy and Riza could expect to be asked, which proved to be very helpful to them. He also found out some potential topics for when the social workers came to interview the rest of the office folks, which was equally helpful. It did send Isabelle into a ranting spell, though. As she had become very fond of pointing out, nobody had asked _her_ those kinds of questions when she was pregnant!

Finally, the fateful week came in which they were all subjected to interviews by the government social workers. And much to everyone's relief, the interviews went smashingly. Roy and Riza reported that the house inspection, psychiatric evaluations, and financial and background checks went well too. But then came the worst part -- the waiting while their application and all the information related to it worked its way through the system. This, of course, took months, and Roy started muttering that he was going to do something about bureaucratic red tape the instant he had a chance. His friends heartily agreed that this was an excellent idea.

Then, at the beginning of October, the letter finally arrived. Roy and Riza carried it to the office as though it might contain a bomb, and after many false starts, they finally handed the letter to Hughes, asking him to open it for them. He did, quickly scanning the note, then handing it to Roy with a broad grin. Roy eyes his old friend suspiciously, then quietly read the note himself before handing it on to Riza. She too made fast work of the letter, slowly lowering it as she finished and turning her wide brown eyes on Roy.

"Oh, Roy…" she whispered.

"We have to call him and tell him," Roy said, pulling Riza into a hug. "No point in keeping him waiting."

"Wait a minute, aren't you going to tell us what it says?" Havoc asked.

Roy nodded to Riza, who turned to the others. "Our papers finally went through," she said. "And they were approved. We can bring Wrath home whenever we want."

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The first week of November turned into nothing but one long party, starting with a celebration of Wrath's adoption (commemorated in the incredible sketch-turned-painting that Envy made for the Mustang family), continuing with the fourth anniversary of Roy becoming Fuhrer, and ending with the triplets' first birthday. The end of the second week also saw a small celebration, for the verdict came back in the case against Susan. She was found guilty. After all, nobody could deny that she had lured all those people to their deaths or that she had been planning something that would have killed everyone in her apartment building. But the jury had taken Hughes's commentary on her mental health to heart, and rather than sentencing her to death, they had decided to follow his suggestion and enroll her in a long-term rehabilitation program. Everyone hoped she would be able to heal and rejoin society someday.

Lust and Sloth remained in prison, though Lust was moved to a somewhat less secure facility to make visits easier. Everyone's hopes for her were raised when Roy, Riza, and Wrath went to visit and Wrath told her about being adopted. Lust, it seemed, had been genuinely happy to hear that news. As Envy pointed out, human emotions were always a good sign in any Homunculus. Now, if only they could get Sloth to behave, they would be all set.

And so it was that things once again settled down in Central City. There were no major wars on the horizon, no minor scuffles, no new Homunculi or other threats to national security, nothing at all. Well, nothing bad anyway. There was still much talk in the office about a future Rockbell-Elric wedding, and talk about the possibility of more little Mustangs in the future (Wrath thought it would be cool to be a big brother), and talk about how there definitely would not be any more little Chamberlain-Elrics but how the six that already existed were going to be having all sorts of exciting things in their lives. After all, the twins had just started school, and Guinevere's language skills were growing every day ("Isabelle, guess what? Guin just called me a palm tree!"), and the triplets…well, they were a handful. One-year-olds usually are, after all, and Isabelle and Envy had three of them. But all was well, and all was happy, and the future looked brighter every day.


End file.
